Love-marks
by im-a-quick-study-miss-sage
Summary: Maddy and Loki are fools in love
1. Chapter 1

Love-marks is actually based on the book Runemarks and its sequel Runelight. Loki and Maddy hang out atop of the hill where a little slip-up can reveal a tiny fragment of the mystery known as Loki.

* * *

Loki had been through this before.

' I'm telling you we have to do something! '

Maddy and he were laying leisurely upon Red Horse Hill, the old hill, the way it used to be before the End of the Worlds, or the End of the Worlds before it. 'Why us? ' he exclaimed kind of sluggishly, 'Why not Odin, or Thor, or Goldy?'

'Becaaause,' she exclaimed 'we are the only ones with the super ninja match-making ability to do it. Well you at the least. I know you have your way of convincing girls to do all kinds of things for you. ' She grinned at him and turned to her side to face him. He looked at her kind of bored at the very discussion. 'Oh, you'd think? ' he said with a half smirk, 'Don't bet your life on that. '

'Well-,'

'No, Maddy listen,' he looked really tired and maybe a bit bitter now, 'I can't and I don't care about Skaddi's and Njord's non-existent relationship. I mean, why do you even care so much about it anyway? It's not like you can bring them back together. '

Maddy's mood faltered and her eyes bore a hesitant glint. His mood was all over the place today. She was starting to worry about her friend.

'Loki, what's wrong? ' she asked softly. He looked away.

'Talk to me. ' she urged him.

'There's nothing to talk about. I just wish you'd stop talking about Skaddi's love life and how you can fix it. '

She stared at him for a moment thinking hard and wondering -not for the first time- how missjudged he was by everyone and that he truly was a deep and tormented person. No one else, other than her and maybe his blood brother, the Allfather had even managed to get a slight idea of the very person before her. And why would they spare a meager thought about him._ HIM? _He was the Trickster after all, the ultimate prankster, the biggest liar and the most selfish, cowardly, evil person on earth, as some would consider.

'I just think that, since there's nothing useful we can do right now, we could spare a-,' she thought about his words a little more. Then her face lit up in an incredulous way that made her seem both scared and amused,

'You like her! '

'What, no-! ' he declared startled.

'Bloody hell, you are so into her-, ' She managed to say that in a cute chattery way but inside her she was shocked at the very thought of it. Maybe even a little sad- no not sad, _you are NOT sad that he likes someone else, he's your friend for god's sake BE HAPPY! _she scolded herself inwardly. Somehow, she couldn't really help it. But that matter was something she would consider_ later_.

'Maddy no, really. ' His voice was kind of squeezed and leisure as if he thought she were saying something cute but Maddy wanted to know for sure, and, truth be told, she liked seeing him cornered so she played ball.

'And-, ' she insisted, 'you want me to do something about it. '

'No. ' he was a lot firmer this time, his harsh tone implying that the conversation is done, or at the least that he was done talking to her.

He got up from the hard but all the same comfortingly familiar ground and headed towards Little Bear woods without so much as a word or a nod, or even a look towards her, leaving a startled and curious Maddy behind him.

_Uh-oh, boy he's mad, _she thought.

She considered the whole thing a little more lying down on the ancient, rough surface of the hill gazing the lazy clouds passing by and dreaming of the days to come until it started raining and Maddy ran up to the comfort and safety of her home's four walls and roof.

* * *

That night she couldn't sleep. Dangerous thoughts and a sickening feeling was churning inside of her. She didn't know what to assume of Loki's odd behaviour. She couldn't keep up with his moods these days. _Does he like her?_ she wondered. _No, no he can't like her, he said so like a thousand times over! But then_ again _maybe he was lying. Besides he did leave in a kind of abrubt way. He's the father of Lies after all._

'Damn I should get a hobby. ' She said aloud and plunged into deep sleep, only to be awakened a few hours later. By Loki. Of course.

'WHAT? ' she exclaimed after a minute of having to endure Loki singing _'Maddy, Maddy get out of bed, you're sleeping all day and I have to be fed, Maddy Maddy up on your feet you have to find me something to eat'_

Maddy tilted her head lightly so that she could see him and groaned but tried her best to keep her composure. Yap he had that effect on people.

'Come _ON-, ' he nudged her, '_get up sleeping beauty. You know, I'm here trying to wake you up so you won't sleep yourself to death, I even made you a song. So pull yourself together and get_ UP_. '

He was back to his normal nerve racking self, with no sign of yesterday's weird turn of events on him. In fact he was in a pretty good mood._ In an awfully good_ _mood_ Maddy thought._ That is never good_ she considered slightly amused, knowing that when the Trickster had his happy face on, some poor soul on this planet had to suffer his witty acts of pranking. She hoped that she wouldn't be the one to fill that role today.

'Loki, ' -sigh-, 'you are not doing this for me. You are doing it so that I charm Ethel into giving me blueberry pie. Well guess what- NOT gonna happen. ' And on that high note she pulled the covers over her and went back to sleep.

'OK. ' said Loki. 'But don't forget I called you a beauty. Maybe you can pull a little favour for me now? ' He smiled as graciously as his sewn lips could allow him though he was still charming and very,_ very-_ attractive. A lot more gracious than tons of handsome men out there. Maybe it was the chaos in his blood, a secret ingredient that paired up with charm, or his bad boy attitude that drawn a lot of women, or his emerald green eyes, or his vibrant smile or his-_ Stop, just stop OK? Jeez what's wrong with me? _

_Gods, and his smell. _'Fine! ' she exclaimed at last, 'just give me a moment and I'll be ready. Now get out of here! '

Loki said nothing but grinned at her, a grin that was broad as well as sincere and left her to get ready.

'I'll be waiting for you outside my lady. ' he teased and swept her a bow so low it was a wonder he didn't hit the floor and one of his dazzling smiles before he turned around to leave, closing the door behind him just in time to evade a book Maddy had thrown at him after being called _a lady_.

_Who is he calling a lady? _She groaned clearly disturbed at the Trickster's presence but all the while she was glad he was all peppy again.

_Great, looks like I'll be the one enduring his good mood today_ she thought kind of bitterly yet amused at the same time, glad her friend was back to normal.

* * *

Maddy was ready in no time. She got up, washed her face, brushed her long slightly wavy hair and put her clothes on. Usually she'd wear tight black cotton pants and a corset and a vest that were clearly designed for battles. Maddy usually was always dressed and ready for battle. Damn genes.

_Not today _she thought. Today was special. So she decided to slip on a cute little floral dress along with a short pair of brown boots and a brown slightly oversized wool jacket. She looked at her reflection on the mirror._ I look ridiculous. I can propably change back before he-_ snap too late. Loki was making his way into her room, his face a mask of slight annoyance propably at her delay which transformed as quickly as it formed into something- _what? Confusion? Admiration? Was she really that ridiculous, or was she actually pretty? Surely not the latter... _A dangerous thought occured to her._ Adoration maybe? _She spoke first, before he had the chance to say anything.

'Don't worry I'll change back into something more-, ' he recovered from his dumbfounded position, his voice bearing a funny tone as if he was playing her.

'You'll do no such thing. You look lovely. ' he assured her. Maybe his voice was sligtly pitched from the surprise but his words and the glint in his eyes told her he was honest. Worse still, he was enjoying this. She was certain there would be some nasty lady comment in for her.

'So you do remember. I almost thought you'd forget. ' he said with his gemstone green eyes and evil mastermind smirk. He took a few steps towards her, slowly but steadily, his face unreadable yet glowing. Maddy had her back on him watching his idol on the mirror making his way towards her, having this funny little feeling at the pit of her stomach.

She smiled at him tentatively, as he reached her, bringing his hands around her in a loose embrace. She held his hands in hers as they looked at their entwined reflections.

'Happy Birthday. ' he said and kissed her playfully on the cheek before resting his head on her shoulder. Her grin widened and they both laughed blissfully.

'Thank you. ' she said finally turning around to face him, their bodies still lightly pressed together, his hands resting lazily on the small of her back. He was taller than her, half a foot maybe and he was looking down at her as if she was something fragile and precious, absent mindedly gazing at her face in his scrutinizing way of his before he spoke again. The spell was now broken.

'Let's go. ' he said, letting go of her.

'Where to? ' she was legitimatly confused and maybe a little disenchanted at the lack of embrace. The place where his hand were rested felt very cold, very empty now.

'To the Great Hall of Whispers. ' a lazy grin spread on his face.

'But what-, '

'Shhhh, let's go birthday girl. ' And with that he caught hold of her hand and walked her out of the door.

* * *

This is like the very first time to ever write and publish fanfiction. I know it's short but there'll be more chapters coming. Costructive critisism welcome and wanted :)

Please also note that the cover image is fanart and belongs to Leonie Muller.


	2. Chapter 2

_-Some people will believe anything if you whisper it to them. -Common saying_h.

The Great Hall of Whispers.

The new Asgard emerged merely out of a river of dreams, becoming a combination of hills and rivers and high towers and grand halls and all sorts of things a grand palace -or any royal court for the matter- should have. As well as those, there were also tons of other little things, such as Jed Smith's forge, or the infamous Parsonage, or the Seven Sleepers Caves.

Or the Great Hall of Whispers.

The Hall was known to be a sanctuary for those who still believed in the Old Gods in an era of great changes and reclassifications, just before the final and official establishment of the Order.

*The Order was a crusading religion. It worked from an ancient text – simply called_The Good Book_ – and its ultimate mission was to bring Perfect Order to all the Worlds. That meant an end to Chaos, to magic, to superstition, to false belief, to dreams, to stories (except for the stories in the Good Book) as well as to Faëries, goblins, dwarves, witches - and of course any old gods who still happened to be around.*

It was now gone, his cruits -10.000 of them- wiped out in a single day, it's purpose bent and over, though it's leader didn't lose faith, currently hiding somewhere safe in the form of _-what? A baby? A child, a man?_ Maddy didn't know and right now she didn't exactly have the courage to look after that matter. She was rather preoccupied gazing around her at a loss for words.

The place was eerie. It was said to be haunted by old believers who worshipped the gods. They were slaughtered in numbers by members of the Order in their own temple. Maddy shivered at the thought of it.

And boy was it huge! The walls stared a long way down at them, the ceiling -which was hundreds of feet above- them was an egg-shaped dome dressed in glittering gold. Stained glasses where everywhere filtering the shimmering light –some red light here, some green there, splashes of a sunflower yellow right there at the corner. The dome seemed to reach up to the sky, illuminating the place, showering it in glimmering sunlight.

Perfect. It was perfect. Only it wasn't there.

Well, yes it really _was_ there. But it was an illusion. The grand structure itself was not really present, only its reflection stood and Maddy knew that if she dared touch a thing, the illusion would shudder and all she would have left would be ash.

She peeked back at Loki. He was gazing at her, a leisure smirk playing at his lips and a faint spark of something like longing in his gemstone eyes.

She smiled at him and he smiled back at her, genuinely this time.

'I've never been here before. ' she exclaimed.

'Well yeah, most people have never been here before. It's not a exactly a fun place to be at, though it's mystical beauty certainly makes up for it. ' he said chuckling lightly.

'Who dreamt it? No no, let me guess. Hmmm… ' she didn't consider it for much long.

'Bragi. ' she said, sounding completely confident for her answer.

'Nope. Bragi's not the one.' He looked back at her.

'No one did. ' he said face dead serious.

'Well then why is it here? Someone must have dreamt it, or summoned it. It can't just be here! '

'It _can _obviously, though let us not forget that it is not actually here. It was part of the old Citadel you know. Maybe it's just meant to be in Asgard, be that the old or the new one. '

They stood there for a while just gazing around the place.

'Want to dance? ' he asked her at last. With a faint movement of his right hand, a slow dancing chant or canticle –Maddy couldn't tell them apart- started playing literally out of thin air and golden glimmering stardust started falling from the ancient dome, pouring down on them, showering them with glistening dust.

Maddy laughed blissfully and rested one hand on his shoulder and the other on his warm hand, accepting his invitation for a dance.

He brought his other arm around her, letting his hand rest low on her waist as he brought their bodies –and faces- closer together.

For a moment the world seemed to stand still as they locked eyes –his crystal emerald green with her warm brown, slightly golden- but then he made his move, sweeping her around as if the Hall was their dancefloor, then bringing her back at the familiar grip of his embrace. Maddy was snapped from her startled position and did her best to keep up with his movements –which as she found, wasn't hard at all. Soon they were laughing playfully and turning around at the beat of the melody, their hair and clothes glittering with stardust.

The aria soon ended, but they stayed locked, their bodies pressed together tightly as they were still smiling at each other.

Maddy was getting a bit lightheaded and dizzy as she realized the situation they were in. Butterflies were churning in her stomach and her eyes faltered shyly as she lowered her gaze. She tried to break from his grip, she _had_ to break from that grip, only Loki's arms entwining around her firmly didn't seem to share that notion.

'Loki. '

That was the only thing she said, but it seemed to have gotten through, because Loki snapped back in reality and his embrace broke free. Suddenly she realized she could breathe once more.

The air around them was electric after that, so she tried an attempt for conversation.

'Well, you're a pretty gifted dancer. ' she remarked as they headed outside.

'Yeah right, that was just a one-time spectacle, so you'd better not tell anyone. You'd just ruin my badass reputation that way. ' he grinned.

They were back to familiar territory now and Maddy let out an inaudible sigh of relief.

'Yeah well, I wouldn't want to do that. ' she said amused.

They strolled out in the broad countryside, strutting along the stone-carved pathway silently for a while, only this had nothing to do with the weirdness in the air back at the Hall, this was leisure and enjoyable.

'So,- ' she said at last, 'what happened yesterday? What were you so upset about? '

A slight pause followed.

'God, this creature… ' he murmured finally under his breath, except Maddy caught it. She couldn't help but roll it around in her mind. _Was he implying that she was irritating? Or was he saying it adoringly, as if she was some trouble-making weakness of his? _

'Maddy,- ' he continued, 'when someone tells you one thing, they usually mean it. '

'So you don't like her. ' she stated kind of matter-of-factly.

'Hell no! Do I look suicidal to you? If Skadi knew that she would laugh, then slice me into pieces if she thought I'd dare think of her like that. No doubt she has no boyfriend. '

'Good. '_gods, now he'll think I like him –which is ridiculous, right?_, 'I mean, that's good news for Skadi. ' _Oh no, why did I say THAT? _

'Yeah, I guess. ' he laughed softly, a warm, southing thing, like the sound of running water in a warm day.

'Maybe she's already in love with me though, you know? Cause it's an open secret to the whole world that Loki, the god of mischief is irresistible. '

'Shut up- ' Maddy laughed with him as he started to pretend to be slowly taking his clothes off, in a striptiz manner which was funny both because he was dancing –and failing miserably- seductively and because he started singing in a girly voice 'Irresistable… yeah he's irresistible… Loki's irresistible… god's so _irresistableeeeeee_! ' at which point he literally starting singing at the top of his lungs and Maddy got stomachache from her uncontrollable laughter.

'What, you think it's funny? ' he tried to tease her but his shared laughter gave him away.

'No, not at all. ' she giggled.

He put an arm around her and guided her all the way up to her home where they would spend some time together before heading out to the Allfaather's Hall, for all the god's to celebrate the twins birthday.

* * *

*The paragraph is taken as a whole straight from Joanne Haris's website and I don't own it. Review please!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_-All you need is love._

She couldn't breathe. Cool water surrounded her, closing her in, filling her lungs. She tried screaming but all she managed to do was swallow more of that evil water. And suddenly there was light; faint at first, no more than a candle flicker, but then it grew and it grew until Maddy was pretty sure Loki had entered her dream. _Loki?_

'Wake up Maddy, it's just a dream, wake up.'

Loki was there; shaking her lightly, chanting her name until she was back to reality. _And back to him._

'It's just a nightmare, calm down.' he soothed her.

Maddy watched him scrutinize her worryingly as he sat on the bed beside her. Her breathing steadied and her eyes could focus once more. She didn't bother getting up; she knew she was too drunk to do that; she knew he was too drunk to be in control of himself or his actions. This was actually the first time in her life she would cross the line like that with drinking, but she thought it was worth it, she had so much fun after all in the feast.

'Thanks.'

That was the only thing she could offer him, a thanks, yet it didn't seem enough. Then reality hit her.

'What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be passed out somewhere in your shed?'

'You honestly think there was any chance I'd make it to the shed?' He smiled and laid back, resting his drunk head at Maddy's legs.

Maddy had to resist the urge to caress his long red hair.

'It was really great today. I just wish Maggie could be here with us.'

'Yeah, I guess it would be a hell of a blast with another drunken copy of you.' he said.

'Yeah well, I think you'd manage us ok.'

He was looking at her once more; not saying anything for a while.

'I can hardly manage you.' he whispered at her.

Maddy's breath caught in her throat. She was at an utter loss for words as she tried to sit in her bed. Loki sat up too.

'You know,' he went on, 'you have a few problems with sleeping.'

'What's that, do I snore or something?' she said confused at the sudden change of subject.

'No you don't snore.' He said half amused. Then his face went dead serious. 'But every night I can hear you screaming from my shed, and when I reach you, you're crying. Your eyes are closed, you are actually asleep; yet your cheeks glisten with tears. I don't know why I never told you before but I'm here now and I'm telling you;'

There was fire in his eyes, a mischievious glint that was screaming that something bad was going to happen. He leaned dangerously close to her now, a small smirk playing across his sewn lips. _His_ _lips..._

'sometimes I truly wonder what goes through your little head.' he said only a breath away from her face._  
_

And right then it all went loose.

His hand rested on her cheek as his mouth found her lips. Maddy found herself hungrily answering back to his kiss and touch. His arms went around her waist, closing the distance between their bodies, and she clutched at his neck, combing his long hair with her fingers as he had done many times in tha past with her hair. There was so much passion in that kiss, it almost blew her away. Loki was experiencing something similar by the looks of it. He tried to overwhelm her with his weight, somehow to get on top of her, but no, tonight was not his lucky night. Maddy was surprised at how good this felt, she expected to scold herself for doing something like that, only it felt so right and natural, she just accepted it. It was as if she was finally home for once, another piece of her found.

Now he started trailing kisses down her neck. It was so sensual and exhilarating but it made Loki's intentions all the more clear.

'Loki.' was the only thing she said, only just like earlier that day in the Hall it was enough. Loki's gaze locked with hers, his tight grip loosening.

'I can't do this.' she told him.

'It seemed like you were doing it just a second ago to me.' he grinned.

'We are just too drunk. I mean- maybe we could just, I don't know, like wait. For some other time. Don't you think?'

Now he had that preppy face he wore around her most of the time once more, mixed with a little anxiety and well, happiness. Like true happiness.

'Yeah I guess you're right.' he said after a brief pause.

'Sleep sounds like really great right now. You can still enjoy me tomorrow when I'm fresh though. I bet you'll grab the chance to seduce me.'

And just like that he lifted the sheets and put his arm around her. He let her head rest on his shoulder and cuddled with her and then it was official,

_Love did change people,_

as far as Maddy was concerned though it wasn't about changing. It was about finally finding your true self, even through another._  
_

_So this is what love feels like, _she thought.

_So this is what love feels like, _he thought.

The previous night would be the last one Maddy had a nightmare.

* * *

So I have made a few mistakes but most was due to my anxious typing.

This is my first fanfiction though the last part is kind of a rewrite, I lost my original work and I rewrote it kind of in a hurry. I hope it's not too much of a dissapointment.

Review pretty pretty please?

I guess more stories will follow mostly with fandoms such as Runemarks, Bloodlines, Vampire Academy and possibly A game of thrones.

Thank you x)


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